The soil on and around our farm has a LOT of clay which, combined with not much slope, gives us standing pools of surface water for 9 or 10 months during an average year. We have a lot of mosquitos, particularly in the woods at the back of the property, where there is a natural, permanant sump about 75 yards west of us that breeds them all Summer long.

Where is the one location on the farm where the bugs are noticeably fewer - at the pond. It's not just mosquitos, it seems that all the annoying insects (flys, deerflys, horseflys, etc.) are scarcer there, by an order of magnitude or more. I think this has to be because the fish are eating them, although maybe they are getting help from other pond-based insectivores (frogs, dragonflys, ?).


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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